Restless Natives, Perth review: 'a roller-coaster experience'

Restless Natives, Perth Theatre ★★★

It’s a bold move, to look back 40 years to one of the cult Scottish film hits of the 1980s, and then – with many of the original creative team still involved – to try to transform it into a 21st century musical. Yet that’s what Perth Theatre and a group of London-based co-producers have taken on, in creating the new musical version of 1985 hit Restless Natives that opened in Perth this week; and if the result has slightly unfinished look – the air of a show still trying itself out, and measuring which numbers and characters work best – it’s still an event packed with interest, ideas, compelling songs, and passionate performances.

Finlay McKillop and Kyle Gardiner in Restless Natives | Mihaela Bodlovic

The story – written by Ninian Dunnett and Andy Paterson with director Michael Hoffman – revolves around two young lads from Wester Hailes in Edinburgh, Ronnie and Will. In Thatcher’s Britain, they decide to escape from their dreary economic prospects by jumping aboard Ronnie’s Yamaha motorbike, and heading for the Highlands, where they start to hold up tour buses full of wealthy Americans and other visitors. They are soon joined – in spirit at least – by rebel tour guide Margot, who sees them as the heroes a sleeping Scotland needs; but when she and Will fall in love, their priorities begin to change.

Restless Natives | Mihaela Bodlovic

It’s a tale about love, friendship, nationhood and belonging, in other words, all illuminated by a fine mix of adapted Big Country numbers from the original film score, and new songs by Tim Sutton with lyrics by Dunnett. For my taste, the show works best when it sticks to the heightened social realism of the original film, rather than attempting fantasy cabaret; and the dramatic and political potential the team could have unleashed by rewriting the story for the 2020s is left tantalisingly unexplored.

Yet the young cast are terrific, with Kirsty MacLaren as Margot and Kyle Gardiner as troubled orphan boy Ronnie hitting notable heights, backed by a splendid Harry Ward as Will’s Dad and a bloodthirsty Edinburgh gangster. Restless Natives is set to tour on to Stirling, Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh and Glasgow; and if at the moment it seems like a roller-coaster experience – swooping from heights of achievement to occasional depths of dramatic and musical confusion – it clearly has the potential to mature into an impressive and moving show, as its Scottish summer road trip continues.

Until 10 May and on tour